A Kenyan woman

Thanks Pastor Jim for the continued prayer for our country, we are truly greatful and know that God will come through for us. yesterday the planned rally kinda did not take place because it rained the whole day till around one pm so people were able to work in the better part of the morning. We pray that the situation will be okay soon.

Kenyan Director of a micro-finance nonprofit

I wish to thank you for your continued concern and support during this very difficult moment in Kenya’s history. We have been a peaceful Country in a generally troubled region and people sort of took the peace for granted.

The country is now battered almost to a pulp and blood spilt with vengeance, senseless killings and wanton destruction. Markets, food stores and shops have been looted. Hospitals are dysfunctional and health centers incapacitated by riots and barricades. The violence, death and destruction witnessed in the Country for the last couple weeks has jolted the Nation into conscience and every body is now craving normalcy.

While peace is slowly returning to all affected parts of the Country, the impact of the riots has been devastating. Hundreds of people have been killed turning thousands of innocent children into helpless orphans and over one million people have been displaced, becoming internal refugees over night.

The impact of the riots is most felt in the micro and small business sector. Over 1 million small businesses were looted and or burnt down destroying the only source of income to millions of Kenyans. Most of the fighting and destruction occurred in slum areas in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Kericho in Rift Valley. These regions are home to over 70% of [our nonprofit's] clients and as you can imagine almost all of our
clients in these regions have been affected by the riots. Only one region- (Mount Kenya) which is home to about 20% of [our] clients was spared the violence. The economy in this safe region is now getting stretched as the residents have to now house the displaced population.

We have recently completed auditing the riot’s impact on our clients and as of yesterday about 4,900 of our clients had been badly affected by the riots:

-- About 1,532 of our clients were displaced and both their homes and business premises burnt down. This population is currently housed in church compounds and police stations.

-- Another 2,479 clients had their business premises burnt down or looted leaving them with no source of income at all.

-- 833 clients had their homes looted or burnt down and about 56 clients are missing and feared dead or critically injured.

We arrived at these figures through a survey being administered at holding grounds, police stations, and through reliable reports from groups and community leaders. Our staff and local group officials have also been committed to conducting field assessments. The biggest tasks at the moment are to feed and house the displaced people, and to finance the reconstruction of the small businesses that were affected in order to enable the people to reclaim their source of income. In addition, [our nonprofit] is now helping other [micro-finance institutions] audit their clients.

[Our nonprofit] has formed the following committees to address the above issues:

-- A humanitarian committee that is working with the International Red Cross to provide food, shelter and medical care to the victims.

-- A business reconstruction committee that is working with the affected clients to re finance and rebuild the small businesses that were looted and/or burnt down.

-- A compliance committee that is studying the legal and contractual aspects of the affected loans to arrive at the best policy action.

Thus, we ask for your continued patience as many loan repayments will be late, and it even may be impossible for some loans to be repaid in full at all. Thank you for your patience as we work hard to address all of these difficult issues, to serve our borrowers and help them recover, and to repay loans as quickly and as much as is possible in the coming months.

[note from Jim T: if you would like to make a loan (or donation) through this micro-finance nonprofit, send me an email and I will give you the contact information.]

American woman living in Kenya

Starting Tuesday-they are/were calling for more rally's-here we go again!!!

So far everything has been fine.

In church Sunday we really focused again on praying for the country and the situation([deleted] is using it all for a wonderful sermon series). Things that we were asked to pray for:
1) unified prayers to the Lord-that we would be heard as one big voice.
2) Power and strength to go on, as people are tired and discouraged, etc. and they serve the displaced.
3) For the church and its leaders so they will know how to lead and be a voice...that they continue to know how to respond.

During prayer time we prayed in pairs and the Kenyan gentleman I sat next to and prayed with-we both talked about the sadness we felt for Kenya but he asked for prayer for "Softening of hearts esspecially Rilia's and Kibabki's. As the talks go on this week....

Kenyan pastor #3

This country never really addresses these issues [tribalism, poverty, and spiritual crisis] but keeps sweeping them under the carpet. Right now there are multiple calls for “Peace, Peace”, but as has been said “Peace that is not founded on Justice cannot last. And Justice at the expense of Peace is a terrible burden”.

But Kenyans will likely sweep this one under the carpet too, and not deal with the real issues. So at the next elections it will resurface again . . . or sooner than that, and tip us over the abyss that was Rwanda.

Anyway – we now have a huge humanitarian crisis we are trying to deal with. As a church we responded quickly, and people were very generous . . . but this will be a long-term crisis because so many were displaced and all their earthly possessions burnt down. Sigh.

A Kenyan man

Thanks for your prayers. There seems to be a glimmer of hope. My prayer is that we get a lasting solution now that there is some peace.

The president named half of his cabinet today evening and that has stirred some violence in Mathare and other areas. Ngong road was clearer today evening at an earlier hour than usual considering its a working day. It seemed that people were rushing out of the city centre.

We still need you to pray with us.

Barikiweni sana

American woman living in Kenya

All continues to be well here. No violence or rally today. Life as a rule seems back to normal for many. Although traffic is still light and the road side stands still fewer and have less than normal at them to sell, etc. All rallies have been cancelled. Praise the Lord!

The real issue now is the humanitarian crisis! We just need to keep praying. It is working ....as things are remaining calm :) We really need to pray that the tribalism will dissolve and people will go back to loving each other and just see themselves as Kenyans! As I have talked with the staff at [my nonprofit] the last 2 days, this is [what they] really want, and for the government leaders to work together.

Another thing that you all can be praying for is taking the sponsored children back to school next week. We really need guidance and wisdom on this for safety. The problem is the driver and the kids are all Kiyku and they have to go thru very sensitive areas and we fear for their lives and that it will not be safe to leave them there.

A Kenyan with a nonprofit (#2)

A text message received this morning:

Sorry [it has] taken a while for me to reply to your email but i am safe and i can say disheartened with what has happened in my country. we are all safe but cautious as we do not want to take any risk in doing anything. we are not able to run our office fully but things are cooling down slowly. 

Please do thank your community for the prayers and i will send their support and love to all in Kibera.

Asante